Introversion: Fear and Self-Loathing

There's a lot of fear in my introverted personality.  I'm so afraid that people might not like me that I put on an extraversion (humor, teasing, joking, etc.) and have even convinced myself that I'm extraverted.  One test of extraversion is whether you find people energizing or depleting.  Generally, I find them energizing, but this is because I find my approval from them.  If I don't find approval from someone, their company is depleting.

But deep down, all that extraversion is a shield for my tender, introverted self that is so afraid of rejection that it will do anything to get it.  Have I forgotten that God's love is better than life?  Or have I perhaps never really known it?  And why am I so afraid that if people see me, really see me for who I am, they will reject me?  Have I forgotten who I really am in Christ?  Or have I never really believed it?

God, transform my mind by the power of Your Word. You Words are life and peace.  Your Word is Your power.  I don't need to be introverted or extraverted out of fear and self-hatred.  Instead, let Your perfect love cast out my fear.  Let Your love be shed abroad in my heart, transforming me into someone I can love.  And transform my vision, too.  What I can see is the outside that is fading away.  Help me see the inside that is made in the image of Christ.  Help me just *be*, not manage my appearance for others.  I commit myself into Your loving hands.  Though my father and mother, wife, daughter, and son may all reject me, You will never reject me.  Help me see that You have engraved me on the palms of Your hands.